Shaler Area wrestling coach Swope hopes Yeager’s tournament medal is building block

By: Josh Rizzo
Thursday, January 2, 2020 | 5:42 PM

Brad Yeager demonstrated what Shaler Area wrestling coach Ethan Swope hopes to see more of moving forward.

By placing sixth at 106 pounds, the Titans freshman wrestler earned a medal in his first varsity tournament. Shaler, which has only five wrestlers on the roster, placed 28th as a team at the West Mifflin Tournament.

Yeager was pinned by James Walzer of Mountour in the fifth-place match. Getting to the medal round required Yeager to show toughness in the wrestlebacks.

After dropping his first match of the tournament, Yeager moved through the consolation bracket in relatively quick fashion. Yeager pinned West Miffiln’s Pierson Buck in 1 minute, 51 seconds and Richland’s Caden Milne in 3:41.

“It was Brad’s first varsity tournament,” Swope said. “Hopefully, that will give him some confidence and help him gain more progress.”

Shaler opened its dual-meet season with losses to North Allegheny and Fox Chapel. Giving up so many forfeits won’t allow for the Titans to collect any wins. Shaler also competed in the Chartiers-Houston Tournament but didn’t have any placewinners.

More important to Swope is the skills his wrestlers are working to develop.

“We’ve been making progress,” Swope said. “We are reinforcing the basics and trying to give them a good base or what will lead to success for them. Everyone has been working hard at this point and giving 100% effort.”

Continuing to create maximum effort will be vital.

As Shaler works toward being a competitive program again, the Titans will need to find more athletes capable of sticking with the program and providing badly needed depth.

“We want to create a culture that kids, as they move through the program, are excited to stick with it,” Swope said. “That’s the goal. Kids are excited to move to junior high and varsity level. Have a core group of kids each year to move through the program.”

Tags: Shaler